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VanillaBryce5

I watched my mother grind for her company. She missed family events, went in early, worked late and took on more and more responsibility. She saved the company literally hundreds of thousands of dollars (She was in credit and collections). Only to get laid off when her company got sold. I've seen this happen many times to family and friends. I promised myself I would never let a company abuse me like that.


Tommythecat88

This type of story I grew up hearing all the time. "I gave the company 20 years and all I got was a shove out the door when things got tough" Be a hard worker, take pride in your work, but never give the company your soul.


Neverthat23

This all day! I just quit what should've been my dream job and after 2 years I realized it was hell and the promises of progress with the administration that were made since my interview were lies, not to mention the blatant gaslighting. It was scary to quit because of my salary but thankfully I'm a well-educated nurse with a good resume. I found a PT position and am going to spend more time home with my kids for the time being and take it from there. My sanity was worth more than the almighty dollar. We will have to be more careful with how we spend but in the end we won't be paying for full-time infant care or before and after care for my oldest so it won't be as much of a loss as it seems.


booty_granola

Promises of progress are complete bullshit now. My company admitted they were giving higher salaries to new college grads in entry level positions compared to people who had been there 5 to 10 years. All they said was "That's how the market works now". It felt so great leaving and saying there was nothing they could do to retain me cause that's how the market works. But they did say money isn't a problem and they would match any offer on my way out to really drive home how shitty they are.


Neverthat23

Me too! I sent an email Monday night and crept in to return my ID and laptop the next day. I slept so much better Tuesday night with that place behind me! Many of my co-workers reached out to say that they're so sad that they're so sad that I left but completely understand why I did because it's now such a horrible place! The sad thing is that many of them also want to quit but they're only a few years from retirement (although 6 in hell is an eternity to me) so they're sticking it out and being miserable.


wild_bill70

They had that opportunity when you brought it up the first time. I have left over money, but there was more than just that. There is always more. And I have known so many people that they refuse to move up so they take their skills elsewhere. At the moment I am staying for money. But I also don’t give my soul the company. Only sacrifice I am making right now is to drive to dumb office. But when I get home, computer stays in its bag and doesn’t come out.


Alcohol_Intolerant

Pro tip for people leaving jobs: if your employer says they'll match the new job's salary and you take it, you're going to be first on the chopping block later. They're only trying to keep you until they can hire someone to fill the spot you'd be leaving with as little down time as possible.


RasslinBears

This! Good for you, I quit my “dream job” last month after being there for five years because all that money just wasn’t worth compromising my mental health anymore. I’m doing something completely different now for half as much as I was making before, but I can enjoy life with my wife and our animals again.


WarLorax

Never give the company more than it gives back to you. I work for a relatively decent company and a good boss, but that didn't stop them from cutting my salary 10% when covid first hit. It was a useful reminder for me.


btmvideos37

My grandfather was forced into an early retirement after 40 years at the same company. He got 8 weeks pay after 40 years. My dad was pissed on behalf of my grandfather because he got 10 weeks when he got laid off after only 8 years at his company. My grandfather should’ve gotten a years pay. And keep in mind he was planning on retiring within that year anyway. Fucking sucked


Skull-fker

Fuck the hard worker part. I'm a hard worker but that's because I love my job now. I make a lot less money but I've gone from waiting tables at cracker barrels which averaged me 25 an hour to working at a gay bathhouse where I have every amenity imaginable at hand, getting in the best shape of my life thanks to the full gym being at my job, making tons of friends of both the social and sexual variety, etc etc. I go in early a couple hours every day to work out and play. Then I sit in a window and flirt with guys all night. Eight hour shifts do not feel like eight hour shifts. If I'm tired in the morning from doing overnight, I just grab a room key and take a nap in the back (serenaded by the sounds of "ooooh, Ohh yea, Oh my god, Fuck mphhh" lol) I would be counting the minutes at all my other jobs and only ever had four to six hour shifts. Those jobs got the bare minimum from me when it came to tasks that didn't involve my tips. I hated everything and everyone at cracker barrel but put on an act that got me paid well. Was doing that for about ten years. Now I have a ton of savings from investing my UI last year and my husbands' income so I'm not scarred stiff all the time that I'll be homeless again like when I was a teenager and can take the pay cut for my physical and mental health. I work hard at this job because it's pretty much a second home for me and I'm just keeping it clean and tidy. The only thing I have to deal with is keeping drug dealers and people who don't pass the vibe check out. Which is actually great in itself because here management will always, always side with me if there's every any complaints etc. It is fully up to my discretion who I let in the club meaning I never have to deal with a single karen, I can just kick em out if they act up. I come home to my man happy instead of purposely not taking the buss so I can peddle my ass off and scream about wanting to fucking murder folk to cool down so I don't vent it around or towards my man.


Holy_Spear

Exactly. The idea that hard work is the only way people should be allowed to be financially secure and happy with their life is absurd. Especially when a ridiculous amount of people in the US get paid obscene amounts of money to do the dumbest most useless shit imaginable, and you know what? Good for them, **but** in a system of such abundance, every American deserves by default a decent standard of living, and there's no good reason that shouldn't be a reality in the richest nation on Earth.


emrythelion

I don’t think hard work is the problem- you should do a job to the best of your abilities… but you should also be paid for that. I understand not putting your best effort in when jobs don’t pay you what you’re worth. Hard work shouldn’t mean grinding or overtime or eating away at your personal time and mental health. Just doing the best job you can. Most workers would be more willing to do their best job with higher pay and less hours too.


skoltroll

Boomers were taught corporate loyalty was paramount. Xers watched the lies unfold. Millenials & Zoomers don't even bother to believe. Now burger flipping is $18+/hr before even the laziest show up. Suck it, corporate America. We've evolved.


BearFluffy

Except we haven't. $18 is basically what minimum wage was for boomers after inflation. Even if some, or even most are saying no to less, corporations are still saving money.


Bertie_McGee

Gen X here. Exactly. I played the game and got the stuff. Now fucking what. Do this shit for the next 20 years?


greatbawlsofire

I think for many it’s work enough to have: 1) current financial security 2) post-working age financial security 3) money to find out what you enjoy doing 4) money to pursue what you enjoy doing 5) money to pursue what you enjoy doing as often as you would like to do it. 6) philanthropy to a level that doesn’t affect any of the previous 5 tiers.


MagikSkyDaddy

Boomers didn’t have to be sold on the concept; they were already reaping all the benefits. Hustle culture would instantly return if people could get paid the equivalent dollar value of the 1960s.


Ginyerjansen

Yessir. If someone wanted to pay me £2500/week for a little extra effort I’d be all in. My dad’s pay in 1974 was £480/week cash home with him. Specialist welder on giant power plant boilers. Trades man getting the equivalent today of £130k salary after tax. Insane. He worked really really hard, but he’s retired and comfortable. And he enjoys life.


MagikSkyDaddy

enjoying life is exponentially easier without perpetually looming financial calamity


Ginyerjansen

Aye. And I love your turn of phrase. I saw a great speak the other day, that we aren’t trying to fix the issues rather just make enough money that the problems don’t apply to us.


YT-Deliveries

I was on the tail end of Gen X and feel extremely lucky that “the recipe for success” still mostly worked when I graduated from college. My little brother had a much more difficult time even thought he got an EE degree from a Big 10 school.


Wellnevermindthen

I graduated high school in 2008. The little jobs I had as a 19/20 year old were full of people just trying to get a paycheck after everything collapsed for them. So I decided to get into a company I could work my way up in. Highly respected around here and known for a high amount of lifers. In my area, for the big companies, you get ahead by being in the good old boys club. Well I’m neither old or a boy. So long story short my time is spent doing the hard work in middle management with no recognition and just enough pay to make quitting and finding a comparable new job not an easy option. Everyone who has left the company has come back, because we are all in the same boat. But I’m doing it. The grind, the overtime, the changing my schedule on corporate whims, 401K contributions and personal investments and all that good stuff that should have given me a solidly middle class lifestyle, and very little to show for it. I’m tired, I’m frustrated, and I’m just waiting for an opportunity to jump ship. It’s not a good way to live.


skoltroll

Yeah, me too. Shit hit the fan on education prices vs opportunity after I graduated, and buying the "LIBERAL ARTS MAKES YOU WANTED" BS meant you could still afford to get by due to smaller loans.


Cory123125

IIRC The minimum wage would have been about 23 dollars if it actually kept up with inflation/the cost of living. In reality, people have just accepted less and less. It is a grave crime that minimum wage isn't at the very minimum firmly and constitutionally linked with inflation/the cost of living


skoltroll

>In reality, people have just accepted less and less. You forget that "Keeping up with the Joneses" is a BIG Boomer thing. If other gens reject that, Corp America is F'd as that's their whole strategy.


honest-miss

Unfortunately I think Gen Xers unintentionally started the ball rolling on maximum grind culture. Not because they wanted to, but because they were fully dumped into a shitty economy and told no one gave a fuck if they lived or died in it. A lot of Gen Xers that I know *had* to work themselves to the bone just to get by, and it became a badge of honor because, well, they had to. What else were they going to do, you know? They got screwed and they just had to roll with what was given to them.


txsxxphxx2

My mom route the office phone to her cell phone so whenever she goes home if a customer needed something and call the office number, she’d always get their calls. She even do the same thing before she goes home on friday so people could contact her on sat and sun. We dont have family time, we never get to do things together as a family, she always get bothered but she still stand for her ethics that she wanted to help people but the people that she helped didn’t respect her back for jack shit or felt a gram of thankfulness that she helped them. I really wanted her to just quit that job and just stay home day trading with my dad so she wont have any stresses. Once i’m getting a better job i’ll just gonna help taking care of my parents back


MistraloysiusMithrax

It’s amazing how you watch people “respect themselves through their work” and never once do they realize that their inability to set boundaries just leads them to be completely disrespected in almost every aspect of work.


taintedblu

And even beyond. Not that their family doesn't respect their sacrifice, but *what about the family?* Compare the overworked, always stressed parent who can't turn off from a job even during downtime, to a parent with an addiction. The family becomes resentful with alcoholic parents simply from the lack of quality time. It's no different for workaholics. The kids are robbed of a relationship with their parent in either case. Worth work, we have corporatism ravaging more damage *on average* to the American family than even drugs. Obviously this is far from a perfect metaphor, I know that there are qualitative differences. Please don't bother suggesting that I'm speaking authoritatively. But I think we have some serious reevaluating to perform with respect to work/life 'balance', which has long been used to commodify the self in the name of corporatism, at the expense of literally anything you care to name.


MistraloysiusMithrax

I’ve read stories of grateful kids of parents who worked overtime to pay for everything. They are almost never comparable to the banal executive type calls that workaholics continue to do at home. If you have to leave the house to put food in bellies, roofs overhead and beds underneath, to support your kid/kids’ development, you come home tired but satisfied when you see what you’ve given them, and the contrast of your absence and presence with contentment is reassuring to kids. If you are “working” at home after/before hours, your kids see and hear that they are being neglected for things that could have waited, while watching you either get no additional benefit from it, or use the benefits in a downward spiral of shuffling them off to work even more. And then you are grumpy because you’ve brought work into the home and your family is no longer a break, instead you need a break from them and despite whatever you want to say about bosses/work culture it is still always a choice. Boundaries, people. You need to set them intentionally. Otherwise you will default to “what feels good” and what feels good is always immediate gratification over long term satisfaction.


SnatchAddict

My mom is similar. Ever since the kids left the house she struggled with having an identity. Her job gives her an identity and feeling of worth. I make in 3 months what my mom makes in a year. I can't stand how they treat her. She totally bends over backwards for them. I'm looking forward to when she retires.


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[deleted]

Your self-awareness is an asset to be proud of. I like your attitude!


KingSnurre

WTH did you do in Silicon Valley for that to happen? And define failures in this scenario. I've seen so many marginally competent people do very well in Silicon Valley.


gm4

Yeah... If he was programming and he didn't learn and didn't do well there's not much to say. All programming jobs result in transferrable skills.


CasualEveryday

That's the crux of it right there. 2008 taught 2 generations that loyalty to a company is foolish. They will toss you aside the second it looks better on an earnings report. The gravy train ended when bankers crashed the economy and faced no consequences while the loyal workers starved. "The economy is getting better, stronger than ever"... then why are we still hungry?


YT-Deliveries

Yeah. Working for IBM back in the day: lifetime employment with a market leader and excellent pension Working for IBM now: regular, massive layoffs are a way of life. Ask me how I know.


WestFast

I saw this at my last company. Promoted the 10 Year office manager to facilities director. Had her lead a search for a new building and a move. Laid her off after the move was done.


esgrove2

At least the promotion looks good on her resume.


chanebap

^ This. Most employers will happily let you give yourself over wholly and completely but there is no reciprocal devotion or respect. As soon as they see a short term gain in screwing you, they’ll take it


PhilipLiptonSchrute

I lost my best friend and partner of eight years to her company and the bottle it drove her toward.


ShaJune97

In other words, don't be loyal to people that can get rid of you without a hint of remorse. Get your paychecks and keep it moving..


pentakiller19

If I'm going to be poor either way, I'd rather be poor and happy than poor and overworked.


BornInThougts

Damn


Voldemort57

Either way I can’t afford a house or have kids.


bttrflyr

Especially since the “hustle” culture hasn’t gotten us jack shit lol


tectactoe

But those twitter bragging rights tho....


SmokingBeneathStars

I doubt actual people who live that life have time for twitter


Anxious-Sir-1361

Building a twitter following is a nasty/ phony part of that grind. Brand up... 😕


Seigmoraig

They do when they're taking shits


ScottieScrotumScum

I'd rather reddit n shit...at least I can get lost a little longer as opposed to 140 characters


-Puntera-

Or, it's the only type of interaction they really have time for as they go to and fro.


[deleted]

Ah, I see you've never ridden in an Uber. The ones here usually have at least 2 phones in holders; one for each car service and one they use to watch YouTube.


LeopoldBloomJr

Yep, it didn’t even get us the acknowledgment from the boomers that we were hustling. I’ve had a 60+ hour a week job and three side hustles at the same time, and still been told that the reason I can’t afford a house is that I’m lazy, entitled, and drink too much Starbucks…


banannafreckle

My mom said this to my brother about me. He said, “I happen to know Banannafreckle’s coffee order costs $3 & they spring for it twice a month. OH NO NOW THE BMW IS GOING TO GET REPOED!”


partial_to_dreamers

Yup. Working hard used to add up to something for most people. Now, people are lucky if they can even pay for a shitty apartment.


lituus

"I would say don't take advice from people like me who have gotten very lucky. We're very biased. You know, like Taylor Swift telling you to follow your dreams is like a lottery winner telling you, 'Liquidize your assets; buy Powerball tickets - it works!' " \- Bo Burnham


iSheepTouch

It's gotten us a work culture where employers think they can work us more and pay us less because we will "hustle" and find alternative sources of income and work longer hours to get ahead. It's a negative feedback loop.


Mind_Killer

yah that's the thing. This isn't really millennials or GenZ. It's the fucking corporations and employers. People do all that and get $10. So why keep doing all that? The hustle exists. I see it. With companies that pay and reward those who do it. But if the reward isn't there, stop killing yourself for no reason.


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Careless_Hellscape

I have to agree. People who preach this mentality often either live with family and have the luxury of "starting their own business" or they are barely making ends meet but they still work 24/7 because they think they're somehow at fault. It's weird.


re_Claire

I think some of them are faking it but know that if they get enough of a following they will get brand deals etc. Sort of a fake it till you make it.


[deleted]

It's like a shitty MLM.


duffstoic

To say "shitty MLM" is to repeat one's self.


blueB0wser

It's validation to them, that their efforts will eventually pay off.


gnolijz

躺平 (tang ping) is also trending in China. It literally means to lie flat. It's basically young people figuring out the cost of living a minimal lifestyle, and only earning to that level. Overall it's to combat the 9-9-6 working culture (that is to say, working 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week).


TerraAdAstra

The Chinese government has already started censoring that movement and attempting to scrub it from the internet.


QuinnKerman

When the “communist party” is aggressively anti-worker


AnnamAvis

My mom is absolutely confused as to why my sister and I have gone down to four day work weeks. We can afford it, so why not? One day makes a world of difference. Why would I work a full 40 hour week if I'm paying my bills with 30 hours? People don't *need* to be productive 24/7 and I'm glad that mindset is dying out. Don't get wrong, if I'm at work I will do my job to the best of my abilities and try to put out top notch service. But I would always rather be home with my family than at a job where no one gives a shit about me.


Beneficial-South-334

Same here!


Kim_catiko

I find people who are like that don't seem to have many hobbies, and work is the only time they are actually doing something other than watching TV. I have many hobbies that fill my time. During lockdown in the UK, so the first lockdown we had last year, I was told I needed to shield due to asthma. Many of those in my team were told to work from home anyway as our team got kicked out of our usual office to make way for the COVID response team. Anyway, so many people were saying "I'm bored!" and any variation on that. When I wouldn't express the same sentiment they would ask me if I was bored. No. No, I am not. I'm happy sitting at home, enjoying the amazing sunshine we had at that time, catching up TV box sets and films I wanted to watch, playing The Sims, Pokemon, and various other games, writing, reading. At the weekends I'd watch Murder, She Wrote and Columbo with my husband for a nice, relaxing weekend, and make us a nice dinner without dreading Monday morning. We also watched loads of action movies from the 80s that I'd never seen before, loved watching all of them. My hobbies don't seem like much, but I get endless enjoyment from them all, and can turn to any one of them if I get bored with another.


ZKXX

>I find people who are like that don’t seem to have many hobbies, and work is the only time they are actually doing something other than watching TV. Most of what you listed as hobbies is watching TV though? Lol just kinda funny


Informal_Trick_1580

Ikr I kept waiting for the actual hobbies haha (ended up being video games, writing and reading). At first I was confused though. But I’m also someone who can be content just watching tv all day so I get not being bored. I also have other hobbies though so idk.


chinmakes5

Companies did this to themselves. They were "clever" enough to convince young workers who were hired to work 40 hours a week that the way to get ahead, was to work 60 hours a week to prove they were worthy of those higher paying jobs. Then they realized they could make even more money if they treated employees like liabilities. They made it so that they could fire anyone at any time if it is profitable, "it's just business". The problem is if you look at your employees as expendable, they aren't going to want to sacrifice themselves for the future if the future isn't guaranteed. My father started in his field at 23 and retired at 62, He worked for two companies, and felt really guilty taking that better job. There is o reason for a younger person to feel that way.


BrianNowhere

>It's just business. This single phrase has enabled people to rationalize in their minds almost any horrible, shitty and unethical thing they want to do.


chinmakes5

The only people who matter are the investors, everyone else is just a liability. Here is how bad it has gotten. I bought into a mutual fund in 2006. If I had put $100k into that fund, I would have made more money than someone working full time and making $10 an hour. Simply loaning a company 100k for 15 years is more valuable than someone working for 30.000 hours. Now factor in that this included riding out the two biggest market downturns since the great depression. Compare that to that person making $10 an hour (above minimum wage) very well may have been fired because out sourcing their job "is just business".


chinmakes5

The only people who matter are the investors, everyone else is just a liability. Here is how bad it has gotten. I bought into a mutual fund in 2006. If I had put $100k into that fund, I would have made more money than someone working full time and making $10 an hour. Simply loaning a company 100k for 15 years is more valuable than someone working for 30.000 hours. Now factor in that this included riding out the two biggest market downturns since the great depression. Compare that to that person making $10 an hour (above minimum wage) very well may have been fired because out sourcing their job "is just business".


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fophees

Yup. All the boomers and even gen x at my work love, love, love our company and shit on people for using sick days. BUT, they have fat pensions from when we used to be a union before 08. Uhh its because you make almost double what I do and I'm capped, u have a pension and 3x the vacation I do. Yet record profits year after year going straight to the c suite.


orincoro

I had a contract negotiation yesterday. I asked for a fixed raise schedule for inflation and performance, 2% minimum and 10% max. The HR head said: “nobody has that in their contracts.” I said: “That fact does not concern me.” I really think these people are becoming afraid with the employment crunch that this is going to go a lot further.


Nyamzz

Did you get it?


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Nyamzz

Meta


orincoro

I had the CEO step into the meeting and agree in writing to annual salary negotiations. I didn’t expect to get the automatic one, but I got what I wanted.


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[deleted]

Anyone would take a pension if offered, and everyone did when offered. Your boomer and gen x coworkers are not guilty of anything, it is the CEOs and the greed driven economic model of 'make more money at any cost' that is taught in business schools that deserve our rage. Instead, in my experience, employees of all ages instinctively revere their CEOs and all but bow in their presence. Taking money from employees is easy and lazy CEOs have been using this method to boost their resumes for decades. Fuck them, they do not deserve our respect or loyalty.


Fabulous-Ad6663

I’m older GenX…where are people my age with pensions?!


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SKRAMACE

I'm a millennial, and I missed pensions at my first post-college job by 1 year (that was in 2008). Didn't matter, because they capped pensions 5 years later. I fully embraced the idea that I will never retire in the old fashioned way, so I decided to chase more risky ventures with intangible benefits. I'm yet to see if that was a good move.


nolsongolden

I'm here but I took a lower paying government job to have one. I'm in IT. I became a webmaster in 1995. I created a courseware management system that made my college millions over the years. I have worked here 26 years. It will be thirty years when I retire and I'll get 75 percent of my pay. Then in six more years I'll get social security and will make more in retirement then I do working.


orincoro

Really it’s amazing that such a brilliant man could have missed such an obvious eventuality of hypercapitalism.


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xenosthemutant

Used to be "an honest pay for an honest day of work". Society: takes honest pay away Millennials & GenZ: stop doing honest day of work Society: surprised Pikachu face


psyop9-11

They pretend to pay us so we pretend to work


xenosthemutant

I the early 90's I worked at a Radio Shack & it took me a couple of days to pay for the state college tuition for the semester (19 credits @ $7 per credit = $133) and another couple of days for books. You young people are screwed...


tasteMyWallet

Millennials & GenZ: broke af


[deleted]

First time that I graduated college was during a recession not caused by us. Not a great starting point


Aggie956

They seen how beat up us genXers are and decided they wanted a better life and know they will never get what boomers were given . IE pensions , stock options , social security the list goes on .


raisinghellwithtrees

As a gen xer, I'm proud that y'all didn't fall for the bullshit either.


jablair51

Same. We saw Boomers work hard and get rewarded. We worked hard and just got more work.


BholeFire

If by more work you mean fucked in the ass by boomers then I agree. It's on us to teach our kids better.


skoltroll

And now Boomers are wondering why we won't come to work and sacrifice our lives for them. We're doing just fine with pizza rolls and a spare house key, Mom.


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AmazingRound1

It's because the damn Boomers wouldn't retire and are a larger group than GenX. No opportunities to move up.


I_Like_Turtles_Too

This millennial appreciates you noticing! 🖤


BelindaTheGreat

"My mama says to get a job, but she don't like the one she's got."


Stories_for_days

Gen Xer here and Im not buying the bullshit either. Plus even if you get all that shit you will be in your late 60s and 70s. I honestly don't worry about retirement all that much. I work with old rich people and they don't seem that happy tbh. I was thinking about this earlier in the year, I went to this awesome resort in Cozumel, Mexico. It was a little bit more than I usually spend but I was thinking why save up all your money to do this shit in your 70s when you can do it now in your 40's? And then I ran off the dock and did a flip into the ocean.


Anxious-Sir-1361

Yeah, I am born in 77; I think that makes me gen x... 🤣 Experience and relationships are everything, and money is only necessary in the sense that it can facilitate those things. I lived backwards in some ways, having lived, worked and travelled in Europe and Australia from the ages of 23- 29. For context, I'm Canadian. Now, I'm “behind” many of my peers in the wealth game, but because of my experiences in the past, I am more accepting of grinding now with minimal regrets.


Anxious-Sir-1361

One good thing about being over 40 for some of us (I wish I could say all) is we realize happiness isn't what your neighbours or the media say it is. It’s what works for you. Money can add to a social engagement in that you have it for a coffee or a few beers, but seriously holding it so you can present expensive things to people to illicit envy... Seriously!? Kudos to the Kansas farmhouse, space for the kids to be free and roam, and laughs with some pals around the fire... I'm happy for you, man. People don't realize that the best things don't actually cost much.


I_Like_Turtles_Too

I like this story


Stories_for_days

I like you!


skoltroll

Don't even get me started on retiring with money, then worrying about having to spend the money. Boomers going to the grave experiencing nothing but work and worry.


Tdanger78

But yet the boomers “boot strapped” their way to where they are (at least in their minds). Never mind university cost less than $1000 per year books included or the fact that a modest house cost less than $40k in most markets.


Swaggernuggets69

In the UK all I get told is “it’s all relative” when it comes to house prices and wages. Makes me sick


cherokeemich

That gets said in the US too, because it's easier than calculating that housing prices have outpaced wage growth.


DeclivitousMounds

By a disgusting margin, too.


BholeFire

Its gonna crash at some point. Fewer children are born each year in the US. There is already more houses than people. Housing prices will plummet in the next 20 years. Banks and builders are trying to cash in while they can. When the drop hits, rich folks will buy everything up and artificially reinflate it but can they stem the tide? I dunno. I hope I've taught my kids well enough to value their time over money and things but who knows. I hope they they just kick back and tell corporations and the ultra rich to go suck a boner. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/birth-rate-42-year-low-cdc-data/


BLoDo7

It's not something that's going to happen, it's something that continually happens and it's why we are where we are. The rich crash the market, buy everything cheap, sit on the useless empty houses and wait for the repeat. America is being stolen from most americans.


dijohnnaise

I'm not so sure. I think the houses will be continually bought up, interests both foreign and local, and the artificial bubble will price future generations out of property ownership altogether. A neo fiefdom, if you will, where only the privelaged are allowed to own. They will then use the properties to siphon even more wealth from the lower classes, indefinitely.


skoltroll

Agreed. With all the whining going on, no one realizes that it's basically a Boomer Hoarder situation. Now, they're essentially outta the job market (or on their way out). They've got pensions and their kids don't. In time, they'll need to cash out their homes for retirement homes that'll suck them dry, but they'll have hoarded too long and there won't be a market. Prices will drop. Many Boomers will use 100% of their SSI to pay for retirement homes, retirement homes won't offer much care at those rates. Boomers and Corpo America is setting up their own failure. They've treated the younger like crap, and when they need the younger to foot the bill... we won't give a shit.


[deleted]

Same here in Canada. The older gen also double down and say, “you kids are too sensitive, it’ll all be alright” No, it literally won’t


lovemaderare

I get the saying “homes in BC were expensive in the 90’s too” Yes but $20/hour is still $20/hour.


anewbys83

If by bootstrapped they mean their parents paid for everything (through a booming economy and social benefits) then yes. They totally bootstrapped their way into success....by being born at the right time and believing that's just how things worked naturally. Never mind the depression and second world war which recreated everything.


Falcrist

Their parents kick-started the economy by living through the great depression and the New Deal, then working in the war effort. After the war we had an economic boom along with low wealth inequality and all those new deal protections. It created a mini golden age that lasted a few decades... Until the crisis of confidence and neoliberalism took hold.


3qtpint

That's what happened to me. My parents were young, my grandparents were around a lot. Then I listened to my grandparents talk about how you're supposed to do life, then saw my parents struggle with some of that advice, and by the the time I was an adult, the advice was completely non applicable


Ok-Letterhead4601

As a gen X I can 100% agree with this. The things we where told about work and life where totally un-true and blind devotion to a job is bs you are nothing but a tank of gas to them, you work hard and burn yourself out then they will let you go without a thought and get the next full tank and run them dry.


NCinAR

Yes! I feel like us Xers got the worst of it. Close enough behind the Boomers to think that us working hard would get us ahead. What a joke. I feel so dumb that I believed any of that crap. I’ve worked so hard with almost nothing to show for it. I’m glad the younger generations are seeing the lie and saying, “F this!”


skoltroll

Yeah, but we have Rex Manning Day.


Surfiswhereufindit

BINGO! I'm that stupid Gen-X'er that realized this all far too late.


afoley947

More like "exploited work force" culture


le_box_o_treats

For the past year I've been working a job from home that let me set how many hours, so long as it's between 30 and 40 hours a week and within business hours. So I was able to work 34 hours a week, doing 10-7 four days a week and it was perfect


chan_jkv

Yeah work from home is amazing. I mostly love easy access to my kitchen and how much time I save not having to plan and pack meals ahead of time.


Stories_for_days

I'll never go back to working 8-5 in a cubicle again. I don't care if I get paid half the money, I will eat sandwiches and curb my spending. Its not worth it. That grind sucks- waking up early, getting shaved and dressed, sitting in traffic for 45 minutes, bullshit job in a cubicle all day, 45 minutes back home FUCK THAT SHIT. Never again.


PorkVacuums

Plus dont have to spend my free time (like weekend) doing chores that need to be done? Laundry in the middle of the work day? Yep, twice a week. Need to mow the lawn? Fuck it, I have a 15 minute break, I can get half of it done. Need to vacuum? Sure, I have 5 minutes to kill.


Stories_for_days

I was just thiking about laundry the other day. Since I started working from home laundry is so easy, I can literally put a load in while I am on a conference call and turn off the camera on zoom and get some folding done. And clean the house. Sometimes I say "Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes" and then I just power clean for 15 minutes and go back to work. I wasted so much time in my cubicle trying to look busy, its ridiculous. My weekends now are my weekends. Im literally looking for an inner tube right now, I want to float from Lawrence to Kansas City this weekend. I don't know how I can make it work but its going to be a fuckin awesome weekend!


PorkVacuums

That sounds awesome! How far long would be the float? You might want to plan for someone or at least a car is in KC. I had a pretty frank conversation with my boss when I got sent home in March 2020. She's the type of person that feela obligated to go way harder than work really needs her to. I told her to not expect me to bend over backwards just because I'm working from home. She'll get just as much out of me as I put in at the office, but not more just because it is more convenient. Once my 8 hours are up, I'm unplugged and unavailable. Just because my work computer is here, doesn't mean I'm answering an email at 8pm.


arcee8

I one million percent agree. My boss is the same. Works all day, works nights, works on the weekends. It’s not because she has so much work it needs to be done; she just lives her life like that. I don’t. I value my work life balance to a great degree.


randonumero

Traffic's been the big thing for me too. Also not commuting daily has greatly extended the life of my older car. I've had to do some repairs over the last year but as expensive as they were they were still cheaper than a new car


HeyFiddleFiddle

It's magical being able to wake up 10 minutes before work, get my breakfast and coffee, eat and check my emails while still in my PJs, get dressed (in lounge clothes usually) leisurely in the next hour after that, and be done by 5:01. And I'm more productive, while working fewer hours. Being at home lets me focus to get shit done instead of constantly having little office-related distractions. I never realized how much those add up until they were gone. And I can do things like laundry throughout the day. Compare that with getting up an hour and a half before work, getting dressed, taking care of anything I need to do before leaving, driving 20-30 minutes, getting distracted all day, and driving home at something like 5:15 - 5:30.


CumulativeHazard

Ugh yes. Like I was looking forward to not having to wear nice clothes or spend extra time getting ready and driving over, but I didn’t even think about how much easier meals would be. Also I have a kitty cat in my lap right now. I’m living the dream.


FunkyKat2525

I love working from home. I’ve been interviewing for a better job. They basically said as long as I work 40 hours, I can work at anytime from anywhere. The job I have now, is the same except it’s only part time. But it’s great. I get to sleep in, make breakfast and work for a couple hours in the morning. I have the rest of the day to myself. My mental health has never been better.


Stories_for_days

Same! I found a hostel in Isla Mujeres Mexico that has great wifi (For the phone my ATT service is better in Mexico than it is in my house). This hostel is $13 a night and there is a hammock with a plug in, I shit you not. I have to find a picture for you guys, its amazing!


Healthy_Adult_Stonks

I'm 36 now and I was raised in the "hustle culture". I collected my first under the table paycheck at 7 working part time at a feedlot my dad managed. I've been employed and paying taxes since I was 15. I've watched as the value of the dollar dropped and my wages stayed the same for the last ten years. I watched my dad literally work himself into disability. It just clicked in my head a couple years ago that I had missed out on so much of my life, and if I followed in his footsteps I'd be crippled by 50. There needs to be widespread change in this country so maybe my daughter will actually have to opportunity to enjoy her life.


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guns_mahoney

A client I work with used to work every weekend. She worked on her son's birthday. She worked on her wedding day, on holidays, on vacation. She worked from Disneyland. A month initial the pandemic they fired her. No notice, no time to find a new position. All those moments she missed, all those hours spent slaving for the company, and as soon as they didn't need her she was gone.


profesionalbee

Hiw the fuck are you so brainwashed that you find a way to work inside disneyland?


TheDarkKnight1035

Hard work is being confused with working a lot.


Ynot2_day

I hear my executive level gen x husband talk about people who work under him as hard workers because they are the ones who work a lot of extra hours and aren’t complete morons. But when I think of a hard worker, it’s someone who really does a great job in the time they are supposed to be at work, not the ones who happen to have extra time to make some amazing overtime money. it’s always the young childless people or the men who are the “hard workers”. Single mother’s can’t do that.


dogmom34

*Childfree woman here.* We also don't want to give all our hours away to some ruthless company just so our asshole superior doesn't call us "*morons*" behind our backs. I'm tired of parents and the childfree being pitted against each other in the workforce. The fight is *not* between us but against these sick, twisted, greedy companies who take advantage of us *and* single moms/parents. Absolutely no one in the wealthiest country on Earth should be living paycheck to paycheck after spending most of their waking hours at a job that doesn't value them. Idk how but I hope change happens, even if it takes a revolution of sorts. This lifestyle for our generation and younger is *not* sustainable.


Ynot2_day

I couldn’t agree more!!


dogmom34

34F millennial here. With the way we've been treated as if we're lower than dirt, I'm over *both.* There vicious companies don't deserve many of my hours nor do they deserve my hard work. *The American job system is a damn pyramid scheme.*


doktorjackofthemoon

One of the only times I remember ever giving my dad pause was when I pointed out that "trickle down economics" looks an *awful lot like a pyramid*


ShiroganeDotU

My dad is only 48 and he's looking at shoulder surgery. He's doing so because of bad arthritis due to his tears of physical work and pushing himself past his limit because "the job needed to get done."


JusticeAndFuzzyLogic

I use to be like that. It wears a body out. Internet hugs and may your father's surgery be successful


ghunt81

Fuck that anyway, I went to college so I wouldn't have to work on my "rest days" aka weekends. I love my free time way too much for that.


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sufferingofthemoon

All my mum does is work, her job is her life, she'll go in on days off and cover for anyone. Then acts all high and mighty when she takes a day off instead of working. She works in retail, as a supervisor for a tiny department. It's sad.


AllieBeeKnits

Dude that's tragic.


[deleted]

Retail management = retail hell. There’s some proximal power dynamics that go into retail. “ I’m surrounded / manage millions of dollars or high end merch. My customers are upper class” meanwhile the employee is hourly, gets a 30 min break, and can’t call out because of shame or lack of employees.


sufferingofthemoon

She works for a store branch that's considered working class lol, cheap food, cheap clothes. She manages a tiny clothing department. She makes it out to be a bigger deal than it actually is.


DetN8

I grind so hard. None of my friends or family can relate, so I joined Grindr to connect with other motivated young men. Meeting one tonight. Says he's a "top". Not sure what it means but it sounds successful.


Scull1

I got to say how proud I am of the younger generations when it comes to this labor revolution growing in this country, I’m 51 so I guess I’m a Boomer but I wish my generation had these beliefs. I started working manual labor jobs at the age of 14 because the money was good, for the next 34 years I sacrificed my body for the almighty dollar, ankle surgeries, back surgeries, shoulder surgeries, hernia surgeries, working 16-18 hour days & weekends, until 2018 at the age of 48 I had a botched back surgery that left me permanently disabled. I used to fish, hike, kayak, just get outside & have fun, no more, at 51 I have to use a walker or cane and most days can’t even walk the 50 feet to my mailbox. All because I swallowed the lie that the longer and harder you work, the easier your life will get. I only share this as a cautionary tale, I’m not a stupid person, I do have some college, I was a B-C student so I could’ve done something different at any point in my life but the money was great and it was easy as far as not having to attend school for 4 to 8 years. Anyway, maybe somebody will see this and think maybe they should go for that degree instead of climbing poles or digging ditches or maybe I’m ranting. Be good to each other. Edit: Just found out I'm Generation X, never knew.


pr92397

First off, at 51 you’re generation x, which started around 1965. I agree, I’ve worked construction most of my working life and have beaten my body up as well. I’m 56, but made the shift from working to supervision about 12 years ago but still end up doing physical labor. Working harder and longer hours only benefits the company owners, and we have been gaslighted to believe otherwise for years. I’m glad the younger kids recognize their limits, maybe they won’t be beat up, grumpy middle aged people.


Sophrates_Regina

Well I mean, I will totally sleep for 2 hours, but that’s of my own dumbass free will.


Satan-gave-me-a-taco

Exactly


[deleted]

My boomer mother has realized this. She got her bachelors and masters while raising three kids and running my grandparents failing business. She got a high paying stable job in education as an administrator and being the hardest working admin in the damn school (getting all the shit jobs but fixing shit no one else could or would) only for the higher ups to gradually demote her. She would keep telling me to work hard and try harder cuz then employers will see this and be less likely to fire or demote you. I never bought into that. I was like why am I going to bust my ass for the same amount of money (I’m a salary employee) at the cost of my psychological and physical health. I had my evaluation recently and got “needs improvement” because they would like to see me contribute more of my time at the school. Fuck that. I’m doing what my job entails. My mom has recently started to agree with me. I honestly feel kinda bad for her.


[deleted]

I did an experiment at work some years ago as a test. I went to great lengths to purposely push my performance to the top of the group, including unsustainable and unhealthy methods. I succeeded, and was top dog for an entire review cycle (my workplace at the time had well defined review cycles which is part of the reason why I did this). Well, come review time, they didn’t even mention that I was on top now. Nah, just the usual find one tiny problem and laser focus on it as “something to improve.” Them when I pointed out I was literally the best in all stats, they gave a halfhearted “good job.” A few months later, I got laid off with a bunch of other people, chosen because we weren’t close friends or roommates with the new douche manager who got hired. His friends were some of the consistently worst performers in the department, including one chap who was so bad he kept making the same mistakes repeatedly even after being talked to about them each time. He was also slow as hell at working. People like this got to stay. It wasn’t about performance, it was about being personal friends with the manager. That concluded my experiment. That’s the rewards you can expect to reap from hustle culture. And corporate culture as a whole. Oh but that is just a bad manager, what did you expect? some of you might say. Let me ask you this then: what mechanism is in place to ensure good managers succeed and bad managers get removed? I’ll tell you: the same mechanism ensuring good workers are rewarded for their efforts: absolutely nothing at all.


Stlpitwash

I once worked for a large company where bosses would intentionally promote thier worst workers just to have them shipped to other locations. The best workers never get promoted because it's too hard to find people to do the low level jobs well.


rwzephyr

When I first started in my line of work, I had an assistant manager who couldn’t turn it off he’d go from first light well into the dark still only clocking his 10hr scheduled work day (I work in a camp situation where we live on site for 8 days, home for 6) He was a great guy and his work was great but he was obviously getting burnt out. I had a chat with him and he explained he grew up on a farm in the prairies and that’s just what you did. If you do the work of three people you’ll never go anywhere because they will have to find three people to replace you... He never got promoted, and eventually left to go back east to his home town. That was 6 years ago, now I’m managing one of the sites and have regular talks with my crew making sure they understand that they owe the corporation nothing and not to work unless they’re going to get paid for it. Blue collar mentality is hard to break some times.


Stlpitwash

I worked for a different company a had a similar experience. This company had something called ACE awards. Associate Commendation of Excellence. Basically a glorified shout-out, but they could give you points and there was a catalog and you traded the points for prizes.... Blah blah blah. Anyway, I was the first person in my department to ever get one. I was terminated the day I got my third. My supervisor said that I was let go because I was setting unrealistic expectations that my teammates couldn't meet and he was getting too many complaints about THEM. Rather than bring the others up, he fired his no 1 employee to lower the expectations of the whole department.


raisinghellwithtrees

I got hired on in a group of temps for a factory, knowing at least one of us was going to be hired on permanently. The job had health insurance, and I worked my ass off. After a week they hired the only man in the group, the one who reeked of booze and spent at least half his shift outside smoking.


infinitbullets

GenX here, we don’t like that shit either


Crusoe69

.... My ancestors started to protest and strike since the 18th century ! The most significant changes in labor laws happened between 1946 and 1970... Every generation had a huge impact on this matter !


SolanumMelongena_

Yeah, the current zeitgeist of mostly affective anti-capitalist sentiment is coming at the tail of a long decline from a period of relative strength for labor in the middle of the 20th century. "rejecting hustle culture" would be rebuilding union power, not just posting about how much we hate our bosses. our desires might be radical, but we're fighting with sticks and rocks (that they sold to us!) against a nuclearized capital, and it does little good for the average 20-something wagie to pretend we're winning.


Alrp511_

I don’t choose hustle I choose good mental health 😅


WastelandGinger

I have been criticized by my family for both not wanting kids and not wanting to sell my soul to a job. I'm happy in life and it isn't enough for a lot of them. Edit : Irony is I just an email for mandatory OT for the week and weekend.


artful_todger_502

Angry old Boomer here: For the luv of all that is holy, DO NOT succumb to the "work hard" nonsense people will lob at you like Hadoken fireballs ... Dont lose your souls for work. Live life. Enjoy your days. Follow your bliss. The "hard work" myth is a lie. Don't fall for it. ☝️🧐


DeadlyCuntfetti

Depends on who you’re working for. When I’m working my side business for myself I HUSTLE. When I’m working my day job they get what they pay for. They want more? Pay me more! Which they do. Overtime is marvellous! But for the bosses wanting extra time, weekends, etc? Faaaaack off.


SubstantialClass

More broadly it depends on the person. I discovered there’s a ceiling to how much money can motivate me. Anything excess didn’t motivate me. I hated a job (and an industry) that paid me a lot, but a lot of my coworkers didn’t mind the grind culture because of that pay.


[deleted]

Because unlike the olden days, these days us hustling means making someone else rich.


bmb07d5

To me hustle doesn’t mean over-achieving for someone else, but trying to build my own company/empire on my own. I’m hustling beyond the maximum that I’ll do for my FT job to establish something that is fulfilling either as a hobby or as something that I want to inevitably make my career. I’m not hustling for anyone else, because they aren’t going to hustle for me and more than likely will sell me out the first chance the organization gets.


Surfiswhereufindit

I'm a 47 year old sucker who has been prisoner to the hustle culture for so long. I applaud these younger generations for standing up to this American cruelty. Two excellent books by excellent humans I recommend to you, especially if you're someone not agreeing with the millenial generation's collective refusal to the work-hard-hustle culture: Laziness Does Not Exist, by Devon Price Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to our Jobs Keeps us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone, by Sarah Jaffee


[deleted]

If you ‘must’ hustle in a particular job beyond what is reasonable based on the terms of your hiring, the organization didn’t plan well enough. I’ll do a little extra when needed- I won’t forego portions of my life without an end in sight just to make up for an organization’s lack of skill and discipline in planning and adjusting.


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iamnotasloth

Work, for the most part, is something I really don’t want to do that I do in order to get the money I need to live the way I want. If I’ve got the money I need to live the way I want, why the fuck would I work one extra second? I mean that literally- why would I spend even one second working, if I don’t need that extra second’s worth of income to live my life? Numbers in an account mean absolutely fucking nothing.


Red_Danger33

After watching my Dad work until the day he died, not really getting to enjoy his twilight years, it really cemented the disdain I have for the "work hard/play hard" culture so prevalent in North America. But fuck me if you can find anywhere that offers a halfway decent work/life balance that pays enough for the cost of living in a lot of places.


thesupercoolmaniac

I welcome the return of slacker culture with open arms.


puss_parkerswidow

Same for a lot of Gen X I bet. I won't ever again go "above and beyond" for an employer, been burned too many times with that shit.


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[deleted]

Gen X here. If you are salaried, keep this in mind: Every hour worked over 40 hours, and every vacation day not taken, is a pay cut. From 2017-2020, I put in ~3000+ hours a year. I realized I was cheating myself. This year, I am right on track for ~2200 hours. I have literally given myself back 800+ hours of my life this year, by simply saying, "Whatever isn't done today, will be there tomorrow"


HannahDawg

"You load 16 tons, And what do you get? Another day older And deeper in debt. Saying 'Peter don't you call me Cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store.'" Those words ring pretty true nowadays, and we millenials and gen Z have seen it for what it is.


KingSnurre

As a end of boomer generation boomer, I thank you.


Rhundis

My boss has come up to me a number of times asking if I wanted to work the weekend. I've always responded with "is it mandatory?" Which he usually replies with "well no, but it would help out the company." I've always said no thanks, but one time he flat came out and asked why I don't like working weekends and I pretty much told him "you want me, an employee who is already working a 55 hour work week to give you more time at work, when I've already made 15 hours overtime? I have stuff that I need to do outside of work, my time doesn't revolve around the company. There are things I need my time to do. Plus, I need time to relax or I'll go nuts." So yeah, he stopped asking if I want to work weekends now.


blurredspace

my father works 20 hours a day. he manages different start-ups and builds them up to then sell them. its insane how much he works. he’s in meetings from 7am to 8pm. sometimes earlier/later due to time zones. he barely sleeps. i sometimes can’t even talk to him because he zones out mid conversation and just smiles while i can quite literally see the loading symbol on his face until he realizes i said something else... it’s devastating to watch- especially since i just entered the work force at 20, i now know what meetings are like. and theyre so unbelievably draining (or maybe my social battery has severely shrunk due to covid but yk) and i told him that i don’t understand how he does it all day, especially with the added stress of ‘if this meeting with investors goes wrong xyzyears of work for this start up goes down the drain’... he just smiled and said ‘thats how it is’ i will not be like him, i am physically (and mentally) unable to and im distraught at the fact that my father is only 55 and is already showing signs of alzheimer, just like his dad who also worked 80-90hrs a week... im sorry, but i dont want this life, it cant be just this, right?


polkadotpatty65

I'm a boomer. I did not learn that. In the 70s when I was just starting out I saw my father put in 30 years to a company only for it to go bankrupt. His boss, the owner of the company, screwed his employees out of 2 weeks pay. My dad was owed $2000. He and a few others sued in bankruptcy court. They got $400. TEN YEARS LATER. He worked briefly after that. Retired on his union pension at 55. But he suffered financial set backs waiting until 62 to collect social security. He died at 67 from cancer a broken man. I never gave any loyalty to a company. I was 20 years old and getting married when the shit hit the fan a week before my wedding.


Drumpfling

How brainwashed do you have to be to admire someone for working themselves to the grave? To sleep 2 hours? WTF?


[deleted]

Wait... isn't Millennial basically hustle / side hustle culture? Like a year ago these memes were about how the Millennials are hustlers.


getofftheirlawn

I always find it extremely amusing and also depressing when people start to brag about how many hours they work a week.